New York— President-elect Donald Trump’s criminal conviction live on, at least for another week.
A New York judge on Tuesday delayed making an immediate ruling on whether presidential immunity should prevent jurors from seeing certain evidence in Trump’s trial this spring — and if the verdict should be thrown out.
Justice Juan Merchan said he will rule next week whether a July Supreme Court ruling giving President Trump immunity for official acts prevented a jury from finding him guilty after a criminal trial this spring.
Sentencing is still scheduled for November 26.
Prosecutor for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg emailed Merchan Sunday night, saying Trump requested a pause “based on the impact on this process of the outcome of the Presidential election.”
“People agree that this is an unprecedented situation,” wrote the prosecutor, Matthew Colangelo, who added that there is a need to balance the interests of “the jury’s verdict of guilt after a trial that has regular suspicions; and the Office of the President.”
Trump’s attorney Emil Bove followed up with his own email to Merchan, writing that “the stay, and dismissal, is necessary to avoid unconstitutional obstruction of President Trump’s ability to govern.”
The pending ruling, whether evidence presented in court should be shielded from the jury, because of presidential immunity, could have important consequences for the case.
Trump is the first former president ever convicted of a crime. On November 5, he also became the first person with a criminal record would have been elected president.
Trump’s lawyers are sworn in today The jury unanimously found him guilty of felonies in May to fight conviction. He was given an incredible opportunity not long after The Supreme Court ruled that the former president is not immune from prosecution to official action. The ruling said evidence related to Trump’s work as president could not be used in court.
Trump’s legal team, led by Todd Blanche, seized important decisions, sued Trump’s convictions are set asideand his sentence was overturned. He said jurors should never have heard testimony related to Trump’s communications with the former White House communications director. Hope Hicksor former executive assistant and director of White House Operations Madeleine Westerhout.
Prosecutors argued in response that the Supreme Court’s decision did not apply to evidence presented at trial. He also said the material Trump’s attorneys objected to was “a mountain of evidence” that jurors considered.
The jury is finally out Trump committed 34 crimes in signing off on the plan to cover-up reimbursement for Michael Cohenformer lawyer and fixer. Cohen has paid $130,000 for adult movie stars Stormy Danielsdays before the 2016 presidential election, to buy her silence about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump earlier in the year. These agreements are often referred to as “quiet money” deals.
Trump has insisted he is not guilty of falsifying business records — a charge he is guilty of — and has denied Daniels’ story.
The Supreme Court’s decision in July is the latest curveball in a case that began in 2018, when the Manhattan District Attorney’s office first began investigating the “hush money” deal.
Trump, in the middle of his first term as president, is fighting the investigation as it expands the probe into his finances. The Supreme Court’s first ruling in the case came in 2020, when the nation’s highest court ruled the Constitution did not bar state criminal subpoenas from sitting presidents. The ruling allowed the Manhattan District Attorney, then Cyrus Vance Jr., to access Trump’s tax returns.
The next district attorney, Alvin Bragg, took on the case but narrowed his focus, bringing it back to the “quiet money” deal. On March 31, 2023, a grand jury made Trump the first former president, and future president, to be indicted for a crime.
Trump’s seven-week trial began just over a year later, on April 15. Jurors returned their convictions after a day and a half of deliberations.
Trump, sullen but defiant, walked out of the courtroom and in front of the cameras just steps back into the presidential campaign.
